Kukla's Korner Hockey

On the 2014 Sochi Olympics: “Even if I was offered a role (to promote the Games), I wouldn’t take it. At this point, I want nothing to do with Russian hockey. There are a lot of people who come to the hockey world in Russia who don’t have any idea. It’s all family relationships: ‘I got this job, I can get you a job on this team, too,’ and that person doesn’t know anything about hockey. It’s pretty much if you get hurt in the KHL, you get traded or bought out. You expect that. They’re not developing players or teams, they’re running a business.”

-Alex Kovalev. Read much more on and from Kovalev by Dave Stubbs of the Montreal Gazette.

Comments

That’s why Igor Larionov refused to be Team Russia’s GM for the 2014 Olympics. He wanted guarantees that he would have completely unobstructed decision-making in terms of player personnel, and the Russian Hockey Federation refused to provide him those assurances.